AN: So this is my new drabble-ish collection. By that, I mean that some of these may be very very long, and some will be rather short. This has been written for Ralinde's Pairing Diversity Boot Camp and my gosh the inspiration is already flowing. Go check it out :) The prompt I use for each pairing will be in the brackets at the beginning of the chapter.

Anyways, please review, favourite, all that guff and most importantly, enjoy!

disclaimer disclaimer disclaimer

(tacky)

"I don't like the ring." (cold)

"Pansy..." (despairingly)

"What? I'm being honest, and after last month, I thought we'd agreed to be honest?" (defensively)

"Pansy, love. I just proposed to you, and you're criticising the ring." (bitter now)

"Merlin, I love you okay Marcus? But it's tacky."

Pansy looks up from the black box with the offensive ring within and looks into her boyfriend's black eyes.

He is frustrated, and although he won't show his disappointment, he is disappointed and she can tell.

Her harsh glare softens.

"Marcus.."

"Save it, Pansy."

He walks out of the room, with the red roses on the table, black curtains pulled and floating candles above their heads.

She knows why she didn't like the ring as soon as she saw it. It's all Draco's fault. He gave Astoria Bloody Greengrass the most beautiful ring of all, and it's not that Pansy wants a beautiful ring at all, it's that she wishes Draco had given her the ring he gave Astoria.

She's already screamed and cried and yelled and thrown things, she did it for days, but now it is just a bitter, scabbing wound that refuses to heal properly.

She loves Marcus, she truly does, and not just because he's rich and fit and powerful. He held her while she cried for Draco, he waited patiently while she threw herself at Draco over the years, and now he is proposing to her.

Really, the ring isn't tacky, but for her it is the ruin of the dreams she had when she was still at Hogwarts and the part of her that is decidedly emotional mourns this every day. The ring brings back the emotions she had when Draco invited her to the wedding, when he kissed her at the Yule Ball, when she rushed to the Hospital Wing to see him and then when he waved her aside and refused to talk to her.

"I hate you Astoria Greengrass!" She yells into the night again and cries herself to sleep once more.

It's worse because Marcus isn't there to hold her and kiss her forehead. He doesn't make her toast in the morning, or bring her The Daily Prophet, or pull her back to bed as she gets dressed in front of him. He isn't there to kiss her on the cheek before he goes to work, and he isn't there in the evening as Pansy sets out the dinner she has made for him.

And Pansy Parkinson doesn't make dinner for anyone. She loves Marcus more than she loved Draco, and for the first time, Pansy acknowledges this fact.

Marcus is in fact, at the Leaky Cauldron, drinking his fourth Firewhiskey shot, and telling some person who he thinks was a Ravenclaw in his year about his problems. He is trying not to think about a certain black haired, tall, thin Pansy Parkinson, whose smirk is irresistible and who can do worse things with a wand, (is it wrong that he is immensely turned on by this fact?), whom he loves.

And then he's Disapparating to her house, and it's raining.

"Pansy!" He calls up to her window.

The curtain twitches and he sees her face, her beautiful brown eyes, looking down at him. And then he can hear someone running down the stairs and the door is being flung wide open and Pansy is in his arms.

"I'm sorry." She whispers, and Pansy never apologises so Marcus is in shock for a moment, and instead of replying, he kisses her.

"Does this mean you will marry me?" He asks as he carries her back up to her flat.

She nods into his shoulder and kisses his neck.

"I love you Marcus Flint. I don't even care about the ring, I just want you."

"Well, the ring was only a couple of galleons from this poky shop.." He jokes, knowing full well she knows it cost a lot more than that.

"Shut up, Flint." (giggling)

"Make me, future Flint."